The Stalking Zuko Series

Stalking Zuko is a well-written Adaptation Expansion fic that acts as a between/behind-the-episodes look at Avatar: The Last Airbender. It starts off when Zuko is accepted in the Gaang - Katara doesn't trust him and fears that he will backstab them again. Her solution is to stalk Zuko and write down his every action so she would know his weakness. The story follows the Gaang's adventures throughout the second half of season three - retold through Katara's perspective.

Has a pair of sequels in Not Stalking Zuko and Not Stalking Firelord Zuko and a prequel with Jet's Troubling Obsession.

Tropes used in The Stalking Zuko Series include:

• Abandoned Area: There're a lot of abandoned soldier homes all over the Fire Nation. After "The Southern Raiders", the Gaang hides at one at first before going to Ember Island.
• Abhorrent Admirer: Toph viewed Haru as a platonic version when he wanted to learn metal-bending. Jet is this and is viewed as this for Zuko.
• Accidental Pervert: Happens to Suki toward Zuko. Katara wishes she was this.
• Adaptation Expansion: The fanfic expands what happen between episodes, giving the Gaang a longer time to get to know each other.
• Adorkable: Zuko, Lampshaded many times by Katara.
• Almost Kiss: between Katara and Zuko.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Hakoda, to Katara. He tried to give THE TALK to Haru when he found out they kissed once.
• Anger Born of Worry: Katara got extremely pissy with Zuko after he fought Azula while escaping the Western Air Temple.
• Angrish: Katara is pissed after Aang tries to force a forgiveness aesop on her
• Annoying Patient: Zuko gets very cranky at having to stay in bed with cooler fever. This also happens somewhat when Dr. Yang prescribes a week of strict bed rest for him after his Agni Kai with Azula.
• Armored Closet Bi: Jet
• A Threesome Is Hot: In The Boy in the Iceberg, the play's rendition of Zuko often had threesomes, this culminates when play!Zuko had a threesome with Mai and Ty Lee, which was resulted in a musical number of how it gets awkward being stuck with your lovers on a boat for weeks.
• Bedlam House: Averted, when Azula is institutionalized, they treat her very gently and hope for her recovery
• Better Than Sex: Suki declares the dragonberries to be this
• Big Fancy House: Zuko's vacation home on Ember Island. In fact he used this trope to convince the Gaang to hide there. The Royal villas are also this, seeing how they used to house the royal family.
• Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce: Fireflakes are very spicy to Non-Fire Nation, averted with Fire Nation colony cuisine.
• Boring but Practical: Zuko's firebending lessons to Aang.
• Buffy-Speak: Zuko is prone to this when he wants to talk about feelings.
• The Caligula: Expanded on, in Azula's short reign as Fire Lord, she banished everyone in the capital, arrested everyone that didn't leave and stole valuable heirlooms from various aristocrats.
• Cassandra Truth: No one believes Aang when he tells them that he disappeared because he met a lion turtle, most of them think he ran away under pressure.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Katara calls Sokka and Zuko two-pot screamers. Katara is no better herself.
• Can't Spit It Out: Katara and Zuko both tried to avert this trope, but they still can't.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: Zuko and Suki
• Catch Phrase: The author has one in her author's notes: Bless his/her cotton socks!
• Covert Pervert: Katara loves seeing Zuko shirtless.
• Cry Cute: Subverted, when Katara broke down after facing Yon Rha, she had a snotty messy cry.
• Cry Into Chest: Zuko ends up comforting Katara this way, although he was very awkward about it at first.
• Cultured Badass: Suki, Toph and Zuko can play musical instruments due to their backgrounds.
• Cucumber Facial: The spa day that Toph gave to Katara for her birthday had this.
• Damned By Faint Praise: Teo says sea prunes aren't the worst thing he ever eaten. Haru says that Teo has eaten grass as a refugee. Teo repiles it's not as bad as eating grass.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Bloodbending helped Katara save Zuko's life after he was electrocuted in the chest.
• Deconstruction Fic: The series deconstructs the gender dynamics, the politics, the relationships and the consequences of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
• Defictionalization: In-Universe, after Sokka read about Katara wanting a commonsense stick in her stalker log, he gave her a real commonsense stick.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Water Tribe patriarchy astound Zuko and Katara, and judge mental illness with Victorian-esque values which matter when Azula gets institutionalized after her Villainous Breakdown.
• Dirty Old Man: Iroh, with a better success rate than most.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Katara gets distracted a lot by Zuko's ecoshirtlessness.
• Doctor's Orders: Dr. Yang orders bed rest and medication for Zuko after recovery from his lighting wound.
• Dope Slap: Katara prone to tapping people with her commonsense stick when they do particularly stupid things. Zuko lampshades his always being on the receiving end.
• Double Standard: Called out by Katara to the Southern Water Tribe
• Drunk on the Dark Side: Parodied with Katara's birthday dictatorship. (A benign dictatorship!) And her Bell of Power in her Sick Episode.
• Dueling Scar: Zuko's got a new one from the Agni Kai.
• Dying Declaration of Love: Katara to Zuko
• Everyone Calls Him Uncle: Lampshaded by Katara when she realizes that she's starting to call Iroh "Uncle".
• Eating the Eye Candy: Katara is fond of doing this a lot.
• Environmental Symbolism: Katara thinks the rain was in sync with her crying, it stops raining and a rainbow comes out after she lets it all out.
• Everyone Can See It: Except Aang.
• Exiled to the Couch: In the first part of Not Stalking Zuko, Zuko is often sexiled to the couch by Sokka and Suki.
• Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: Moon peaches, dragon berries, purple passion fruit
• Fantasy Contraception: Suki and Katara discuss birth control options they have which includes Katara's healing bending and the Kyoshi Island pill.
• First-Person Smartass: Katara
• Foreign Queasine: Stewed sea prunes disgust Zuko, Haru, Teo and Aang. Zuko finds it incredibly salty and thinks it moves.
• Friend to All Children: Zuko and The Duke adore each other, Zuko even teaches him how to use a sword.
• From the Mouths of Babes: The older members of the Gaang find it funny/mortifying when Toph sings stage!Katara's song, "I Love Willies."
• Girls' Night Out Episode: The spa day
• The Good Chancellor: Iroh decides to become this to help Zuko rule the Fire Nation
• Hangover Sensitivity: Zuko's cooler fever was initially mistaken for this. Katara gets this after drinking too much with Suki. Aang also gets this after celebrating the end of the war with the Southern Water Tribe men.
• Henpecked Boyfriend: Sokka is seen for Suki as this by the Southern Water Tribe warriors
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Lampshaded by Katara, when Sokka and Zuko teach The Duke swordsmanship with tree branches.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Aang has this with the Fire Nation, it's a Justified Trope. Many Fire Nation citizens had relatives that were killed in the Siege of the North when Aang was in the Avatar State.
• Hotter and Sexier: A Boy In The Iceberg's late night show happens to very racy and sexy.
• Hypocritical Humor: Katara tries to warn Zuko of hims possibly getting stalkers. Zuko rightly laughs at the irony of Katara warning him.
• If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: Zuko hates the medicinal concoction that he has to take for his lighting wound.
• I Have This Friend: Katara meant this literally with Suki, when trying to explain worrying that a friend is not being careful with her lover. Suki answers her until Katara reveals she thinks her friend might be pregnant. Suki understandably freaks thinking Katara got herself pregnant. Hakoda tried to invoke this trope on Zuko to tell him the possible consequences of hooking up with Katara. It doesn't work because Zuko takes him literally.
• I'm Standing Right Here: Toph and Zuko often talk how bad his earthbending or firebending is in front of Aang.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Suki is quite fond of pulling these.
• In Vino Veritas: Zuko is affectionate and reckless drunk. Sokka is philosophical drunk. Katara gets extremely playful and flirty when Zuko tries to put her to bed.
• Insane Troll Logic: Sokka says that since Katara spent three days alone with Zuko looking for the Southern Raiders, she must have had sex with Zuko. Katara turns it on him, however. She says by that logic she should assume Sokka had kinky prison sex with Zuko since he was alone with Zuko for five days.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: In the play, Zuko is Flanderized, made into one of the play's bicycles and his stage!Uncle eats cake. Which ends up offending him, that Stage!Iroh eats cake, when he doesn't like it real life.
• Jerkass Facade: Katara was very hostile to Zuko, at first because she didn't trust him and then because he's the easiest to take her anger out on. After the Southern Raiders, she stops being this.
• Lethal Chef: Suki's food taste like congealed sadness.
• Logical Weakness: Why did no other firebender prisoner besides Zuko bend heat to keep themselves warm in the cooler? The answer: get cooler fever and now you can't defend yourselves from the guards or other prisoners.
• Maid: The OCs found in the Fire Nation palace dungeon after the Agni Kai.
• Make-Out Kids: Suki and Sokka are often canoodling in story.
• The Medic: As canon Katara but also the OC, Dr. Yang.
• Mistaken for Pregnant: Zuko and Katara feared Suki was this after Sokka told them of dreaming that they were penguins and a Penguin!Suki giving him a bag to lay on. Zuko feared this was a Prophetic Dream.
• Moment Killer: Frequently Sokka, but all of the Gaang get a chance to kill a moment.
• Mr. Fanservice: Zuko, lampshaded by Katara on many occasions.
• Mundane Utility: Firebending is great for warming up water and drying dishes as Katara discovers.
• Ms. Exposition: Stage!Katara
• My God, What Have I Done?: Katara nearly had a Heroic BSOD when she realized she bloodbended an uninvolved Fire Nation captain in her hunt for Yon Rha.
• Naked People Are Funny: Naked Iroh Time!
• Never Say That Again: During and after the Southern Raiders, Katara bans Aang from saying the "f-word." It's forgiveness.
• Not So Different: Suki and Zuko after their stealth-off realize that they are both really great at being "stealthy badasses" and both felt like outsiders to the group.
• Offered the Crown: Zuko didn't believe that Iroh wanted him as Fire Lord, so he's genuinely shocked that Iroh wants him to take the crown.
• That Old Time Prescription: Zuko teaches Katara that sun poppy tea makes a great painkiller.
• One-Note Cook: Zuko is only good at making kebabs and tea
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Suki feels like this because she's not a leader like Sokka nor is she a bender like everyone else.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Ozai is this to the Fire Nation generals.
• Politeness Judo: Zuko tells Hakoda that he in not a vegetarian, in fear of insulting him at the Water Tribe feast.
• Padding: In-Universe, the writers of The Boy in the Iceberg don't know what the Gaang nor Azula, Zuko and their friends were doing after Ba Sing Se and the Day of Black Sun so they fill it up with wacky side plots and musical numbers.
• The Nicknamer: KATARA. Subject for Zuko. Dippy-Flippy for Ty Lee. Gloomy Hairbuns for Mai. Chit Sang is also this.
• Quickly-Demoted Woman: In-Universe, the Southern Water Tribe Warriors praise Sokka and Aang's accomplishments, but never acknowledge Katara, Suki or Toph's accomplishments. Then they expect Katara to do the sewing and cooking even though the villa has servants. This is used to show how sexist the Water Tribe men are.
• Red Baron: The Fire Nation's nickname for Hakoda is "the Blue Wolf".
• Real Dreams Are Weirder: Sokka gets dreams of being a penguin and laying on a bag of fireflakes given to him by penguin Suki. Katara gets dreams of Master Pakku in Ba Sing Se showgirl outfit.
• Real Women Never Wear Dresses: Subverted, for the author, being feminine doesn't mean anti-feminist. What's bad is when someone is shoe-horned into a role just because of their gender.
• Really Gets Around: Iroh and in the Ember Island play, Stage Katara, Zuko and Ty Lee
• Reality Ensues: When Zuko is hit by lighting, he had to see a real doctor and was comatose for a few days and bedridden for a week afterwards.
• Reality Is Unrealistic: Noted by the author when she did the research but had to go with the tropes because the actual treatments would have been too modern for the Avatar verse.
• Secret Diary: Katara's stalker log. Naturally Sokka ends up reading it.
• Secret Police: Besides the Dai Li, Ozai had one as well who disappear many dissent and noblemen.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Lampshaded by Katara after her birthday spa date
• Shallow Love Interest: Suki fears that the Gaang only see her as Sokka's girlfriend.
• Shipper on Deck: Iroh, Toph, Sokka and Suki ship Katara/Zuko
• Shown Their Work/Word of God: Every chapter ends with a long, rambly author's note explaining her thoughts on the subjects covered in the chapter and her interpretation of the related canon information.
• Show Within a Show: Love Amongst The Dragons and The Boy in the Iceberg.
• Show Some Leg: Suki used this to get tickets to The Boy in the Iceberg.
• Sick Episode: Zuko gets sick with cooler fever a day after the prison break. Katara gets one after she gets stung by a scorpidillo.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: The core of Katara and Zuko's attraction to each other.
• Somebody Doesn't Love Zuko: Inverted, Katara is bewildered at first that she is the only one who hates Zuko. She grows out of it.
• Suck Out the Poison: Zuko sucked the poison out of Katara's ankle after she got stung by a scorpiodillo.
• Stalker with a Crush: Jet is this for Zuko, but believes he is the trope below.
• Stalker Without a Crush: Katara was initially this to Zuko, to keep a lookout for his betrayal. Jet believes/claims he's this to Zuko.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Katara gets hit with this trope hard after Sozin's Comet when she reunites with the Southern Water Tribe Warriors. They don't even acknowledge her successes and immediately try to make her do the sewing and washing because she's there.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: Katara and Sokka are not even home yet, but already feel like outsiders to their tribe.
• Straw Feminist: Katara is seen as one by Southern Water Tribe Warrior, but the author points out that people don't like being spotted or removed from their privilege.
• Stupid Sexy Zuko: Jet has this whenever he sees Zuko do something badass.
• Sweetie Graffiti: Katara finds some in an abandoned house in the first chapters
• Team Chef: Lampshaded by Katara, she is only one in their group that can cook.
• Through His Stomach: Hakoda and Sokka believe in this trope when Katara gives Zuko food.
• Too Soon: In-Universe, Katara did not like Zuko joking that he'd rather get hit by lighting than do something else, once he was on the mends
• Trademark Favorite Food: Zuko loves his fireflakes and Katara loves her sea prunes.
• Trilogy Creep: Has three parts with Stalking Zuko, Not Stalking Zuko and Not Stalking Firelord Zuko.
• Tsundere: Katara is Type A. Justified, as Zuko was formerly their enemy and Katara doesn't trust him to not betray them. Katara is initially very hostile to Zuko until they become friends and Katara realizes her feelings for him. Then she is no longer this trope when she is crushing on him. Slightly deconstructed when Zuko gets worn out by her hostility and believes them not to be friends.
• Vacation Episode: The Ember Island Arc.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Subverted with Ozai, Fire Nation colonials don't trust him and Fire Nation old guard and the elite think Ozai's completely nuts.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Zuko and Katara develop in the latter of Not Stalking Zuko.
• Uncanny Valley Woman: The Joo Dees, taken Up to Eleven.
• Wham! Episode: Aang disappearing before the comet, the Gaang were freaking and thinking that Aang might have abandoned them.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: Katara had drunk too much sake with Suki and didn't remember until she stayed awake for few hours.
• What Does He See in Her: Katara wonders constantly Zuko to Gloomy Hairbuns (Mai).
• What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?: In-Universe, the late night screening of Boy in the Iceberg
• What Measure Is a Mook?: In-Universe, the Siege of the North killed off many Fire Nation naval soldiers, a lot of them from Ember Islands. The Gaang, excluding Aang and Zuko, didn't realize the human cost until seeing a memorial service on Ember Island for the naval soldiers lost in the Siege. Aang is ignorant of the consequences of the Siege of the North, while Zuko saws the dead bodies while floating on a raft at sea.
• What Happened To Appa: Word of God wondered where Appa went during the Agni Kai, but justified that Katara and Zuko must have put him somewhere far away from the site since he's afraid of fire.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Katara did NOT accept Aang's lion turtle excuse, she calls him out for abandoning them in their most critical hour.
• Who Writes This Crap?: The Gaang all wonder who wrote The Boy In The Iceberg
• Why Did It Had To Be Fire?: Firebending for Appa.
• Worthy Opponent: The retired Fire Nation general admires Hakoda's bravery.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Zuko tells this to Katara, when she's having doubts about taking revenge on Yon Rha. Katara returns the favor in Not Stalking Zuko.
• You Are Not Alone: It's implied this was what finally convinced Zuko to become Firelord, that Iroh would be helping him rule.
• Zuko, I Am Your Great-grandfather: Played with and mocked. When Zuko revealed that Avatar Roku was his maternal great-grandfather, Aang realized that would make him Zuko's great-grandfather. Then Aang proceeds in asking his "grandson" for hugs.